Oklahoma Leaders Unveil $12.6B Budget Deal with Income Tax Cuts, Flat Agency Funding
Oklahoma lawmakers and Gov. Kevin Stitt announced a state budget agreement at a news conference Wednesday.
Agency appropriations are staying mostly flat, and an income tax cut is on the way.
The House and Senate have agreed to a $12.6 billion state budget.
It comes with an elimination of the bottom three income tax brackets and quarter percent income tax cut for everyone else.
Overall, Stitt said, the agreed-upon budget meets critical infrastructure needs across the state while continuing to make Oklahoma ‘business friendly.’
"This isn't a governor's budget. It's not a house budget. It's not a Senate budget. But it is the best budget that we put together to make Oklahoma a top ten state," Stitt said.
Stitt was flanked only by House and Senate Republican Leadership on both sides.
Senate Democratic minority leader Julia Kirt responded in a news release minutes after the governor's presser, saying the budget helps big companies and people who are well-connected, not everyday working Oklahomans.
Governor Stitt Vetoed 15% Of Bills Approved This Session
Gov. Kevin Stitt is using his veto pen more this year than ever in office.
The governor has blocked almost 15 percent of the bills that have crossed his desk.
He has knocked down legislation on an array of topics.
In his messages rejecting the measures, Stitt argued many of the bills he’s vetoing increase government influence while imploring for tax cuts and more government efficiency.
“Putting more government mandates involved just continues to make the price … prices go up for everyone in Oklahoma” Stitt said.
One bill would have tweaked the funding model for an OSBI office dedicated to missing and murdered Indigenous persons. He called it racially discriminatory. Another would have made an aggravated DUI a felony.
Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond responded in a news release, calling the vetoes a threat to public safety.
State Preps For Screwworms As Pest Spreads In North America
Oklahoma officials are bracing for a pest that had been eradicated but appears to be making a comeback..
Adult new world screwworms start as maggots that feed on live healthy tissue Infesting livestock, pets, wildlife, occasionally birds and in rare cases, people.
The insect was eradicated from Oklahoma in the 1960s.
In recent years, more detections of the insect have been seen in South America and this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture suspended live cattle, horses and bison imports along the southern border.
Oklahoma State Veterinarian Rod Hall said insecticides ranchers use for flies and ticks do prevent screwworms.
“It's just that is only going to prevent them for so long. And we just screwworms are just so much more aggressive that we just have to be very careful about them,” Hall said.
Past outbreaks have created a financial strain.
For now, the state’s meat supply is safe.
Nonprofit Sunny Dayz Mural Festival Lost Its Federal Funding
The Sunny Dayz Mural festival celebrates public art around Oklahoma.
For years, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded grants to support the festival and artists but now there is a funding freeze.
Festival board chair Paige Powell said despite the financial, the organization will work to continue.
“I had a muralist once tell me that she was expecting this to be ‘FFY,’ which means fend for yourself. And I was like, whatever the opposite of that is, is what Sunny Dayz is,” Powell said.
“Everybody is taking care of each other, watching out for each other, and supporting each other like I've really never seen before.”
Sunny Dayz Mural Fest’s fifth annual festival takes place May 31 in Calle Dos Cinco in Oklahoma City’s Historic Capitol Hill district, with mural art painted across Resonant Head.
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